News from the New York State and Local Retirement System

The New York Common Retirement Fund – A Long Term Track Record of Investment Success

The New York State Common Retirement Fund (the Fund), has a solid track record of exceptional long-term market performance. The Fund’s historical success is principally due to a sound investment strategy that is based on the Fund’s asset allocation and diversification.

The objective of the Fund, which is the third largest public pension fund in the country, is to achieve long-term growth, while meeting the cash flow needs to pay benefits to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS)’s 422,405 retirees and beneficiaries and to meet the needs of future retirees. To accomplish this, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has implemented a diversified investment strategy designed to meet current funding needs and future growth requirements while controlling risk.

How Pensions are Funded

The Fund’s assets come from three main sources: member contributions, employer contributions and investment earnings. Over the last 20 years, from April 1, 1993 through March 31, 2013, 80 cents of every dollar paid in benefits has come from investment earnings.

The Fund’s Investment Strategy Is The Key

Investments are made in a well-balanced variety of assets classes, which include global equity, domestic equity, core fixed income, real estate, private equity and absolute return strategies portfolios as well as Treasury Inflation Protected Securities.

The sound investment framework provided by the Fund’s asset allocation and diversification strategy enabled it to generate a 13.02 percent rate of return on its investments during the 2013-14 fiscal year. As of March 31, 2014, the Fund was valued at $176.2 billion. Since 2009, the Fund has seen five consecutive years of investment earnings growth. Prior to the recession, in fiscal year 2006-07, the value of the Fund was $154.6 billion.